128 THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



menophyllacece, and the Marattiacece, go back to the coal- 

 formation.* 



Some of these ferns have the more complex kind of 

 spore-case, with a jointed, elastic ring. It is to be ob- 



Fig. 54. — Sphenopteris latior, Dawson. Coal -formation, a, Pinnule 

 magnified, with traces of fructification. 



served, however, that those forms which have a simple 

 spore-case, either netted or membranous, and without 

 annulus, are most common in the Devonian and lowest 



Fig. 55.— Fructification of Palaeozoic ferns, a, Thecse of Archmopteris 

 (Erian). Theca of Senftenbergia (Carboniferous), c, Thecse of 

 Asterotheca (Carboniferous). 



Carboniferous. Some of the forms in these old rocks are 

 somewhat difficult to place in the system. Of these, the 



* Mr. R. Kidston has recently described very interesting forms of 

 fern fructification from the coal-formation of Great Britain, and much 

 has been done by European palaeobotanists, and also by Lesquereux and 

 Fontaine in America. 



